Chapter 2 - The Seed Vault (EtC)
Eelee stepped around beside Rob, careful not to tread on the Doomship debris at his feet. The patter of light snowfall was already covering the scar the ship left in the ground, the sky a swirling mass of dark grey clouds overhead. “J-J-on Dory…” Jamie was on his knees a few steps ahead, grabbing pieces of frostbitten metal. “JON DORY…. NOOOOOOOOO!” He screamed, forcing Eelee to cover his ears as it pierced the chilly air. Standing with his hands in his blue cape, Squirt glared at Eelee, his brow furrowed with anger. “Are you happy now? You had to be better than everyone else, didn’t you? Just couldn’t accept my suggestion, could you?” The snow was gently falling, making his hair look speckled white. “Do you always have to prove you think you’re better than anyone else?” “Excuse me?” Eelee could hardly believe that Squirt believed that was the reason he made the decision he did on the Doomship. “Your clearing would’ve sent us plunging into the ocean! Besides, it was a dangerous thing to try and do!” Eelee could feel the wind whipping thistles of ice into his face, but it hurt less than Squirt’s assumption. “Oh my, aren’t you OUR hero! Look around, you’ve crashed us in the middle of a frozen wasteland with no food, water, or shelter. You’ve done nothing but sentence us to a cold, miserable death!” Squirt turned in the opposite direction, having already made his argument. “And you call yourself a leader… my ass.” A knot formed in Eelee’s stomach just at the thought of Squirt’s words. He shifted his focus, trying to relax, and scanned the surroundings for any familiar sights at all, or support from Squirt’s accusations. He caught sight of Yoshi rubbing the back of Jamie’s white robes, comforting his friend. “Snap out of it, you troglodyte!” Yoshi prompted Jamie, who was pressing the cold pieces of metal that were once Jon Dory to his forehead. “Jon Dory will come back!” Turning to his leader, Eelee saw that Yoshi’s sunglasses were askew, and one of the lenses had been knocked out: “Eelee, I hope you’re happy. This is your fault.” “Rob?” Eelee muttered darkly, ignoring Yoshi’s lack of support. “What do you think?” The hero clad in black robes was shooting jets of fire at the ground, before it was quickly extinguished by the falling snow and the damp conditions. “Rather than crying: how about we try to survive?” Rob snapped, the front of his red and blue mask dented and a clean slice lacerating through the centre of the visor. “Crystal, have you got that firewood yet?” “Totally, gurl!” Crystal agreed with excitement, tossing the firewood in front of Rob: “I can’t wait to VLOG ABOUT THIS! BEAUTIFUL GIRL LOST IN BARREN SNOW WASTELAND! Someone help her!” Perhaps it was Rob’s determination to look forward that prevented the troupe from further arguing, or perhaps it was his pragmatic attitude to go about surviving. Rob was not renowned for his positivity, so his determination to make the best of the situation was telling. It wasn’t long before everyone was huddled around the fire. Eelee couldn’t quite tell the resolve of the crowd, what with the dimming sunlight, but just by the air, he could tell that the troupe was utterly miserable. Jamie and Yoshi, normally so cheery, were sitting side by side in the snow, not making an effort to accept the warmth of the fire, with Yoshi sitting with his head down, snow accumulating on his brown spikes of hair, and Jamie burying his face in hands, the cold piece of metal that representing Jon Dory tucked safely into his white robes. Crystal was taking pictures of herself with her camera, and steadily increasing her raggedness with each subsequent picture she took, making her brown hair messier and dirtier, smearing it with snow. Eelee didn’t want to be in her situation - she was wearing a dress in a snowy wasteland. Squirt and Rob were talking in hushed undertones, Squirt casting furious glances at Eelee, his displeasure known by how vigorously he shook his head at some of Rob’s suggestions, shaking snow from his hair like a tree branch in winter. Rob was steadily stoking the fire, his black robes that blended so well into the night sky were being highlighted in the firelight. “We have to get moving.” Rob’s chilled voice broke the heavy silence as he abruptly rose from his spot. His paintball mask was scored and coated with countless layers of caked dirt and snow. He bent his shoe up and down, stretching the fabric, and inside, his feet. “I refuse to die here.” The rest of the troupe hesitantly looked back and forth between each other. It looks like an apologetic eye roll from Squirt is the only reply Rob gets. The harsh northern breeze was taking its toll, the cold seeping in through the layers of each of their clothing. “I agree,” Eelee declared, looking to assert his authority once more. Standing up, he surveyed their defeatist expressions. “Rob is the positive one. Is anyone feeling twinges of irony? We are the heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom, guys.” Eelee rested his hand on the hilt of his sword as he talked, bracing to take it out. “From Blumered to Reros, from Pixelgame to Extrak, from robots designed to fell us to our darkest nightmares, we conquered them all. You mean to say that we can’t survive a little out here? You mean to say that the heroes of TMK are fallible? You mean to say we just give up?” Eelee drew his sword from his scabbard, leaping forward letting out a roar. “I DON’T SAY THAT!” “Sure.” “Yeah.” “Shut up, Eelee - oh I miss it when Jon Dory says it…” “That worked better in my mind,” Eelee sighed. The troupe had barely moved, fixing him with doubtful and hopeless expressions. They had lost their faith in him. Sheathing his sword again, he sat in front of the fire again, wondering what to do next. “That’s it,” Rob sighed and rose to his feet. “I’m going to go insane if I sit here any longer. I thought I was bad when it came to destruction.” Looking over to the wreckage of the Doomship, he created a fireball in his hands, lighting up the snowy landscape away from the fire. “I’m looking for supplies in there. Anyone coming?” “I will.” Eelee decided, before following Rob away from the fire. None of the others made an effort to follow them, with Jamie and Yoshi still sitting together, depression evident in their expressions and mannerisms, Squirt clearly not willing to oblige with anything Eelee wanted to do, and Crystal… well, the less said about Crystal, the better. As they combed through the wreckage of Jon Dory, eventually Eelee managed to find a waterproof windbreaker that was a couple sizes too big for him in the debris, which was perfect for layering over all the extra clothes. Most of the winter supplies had been scattered across the frozen wasteland while the Doomship was crashing. “There,” Eelee threw a jumbled assortment of coats and windbreakers next to the fire as he and Rob returned to the vanquished members of the team. “If you guys want to continue wallowing in your own filth,” he said, not bothering to suppress the snarl in his voice, “go ahead. Rob and I are going to find us some shelter.” “We wouldn’t have to ‘wallow in our filth’ if you hadn’t crashed Jon Dory! I DON’T EVEN WANT TO LOOK LIKE A DISEASED CORPSE ANYMORE.” Jamie screamed at him, his voice agonized and terrified. Yoshi tapped him lightly on the back to comfort him. Not bothering to dignify Jamie’s crazed emotions with a response, Eelee gestured for Rob to follow him down a slope and into some snowy trees. “What do you think, Rob?” Eelee asked as they reached the trees. “Are their feelings justified?” Rob was the only member on the team Eelee could really talk to about anything. “Do they have a reason to be angry at me?” Even though Eelee couldn’t see Rob’s face, he knew that Rob was pondering deeply over what Eelee said. Finally, his voice issued out of his mask: “Yes. It really looked like you just couldn’t deal with Squirt’s suggestion. It nearly got us killed.” “That wasn’t what I was trying to do. I tried my best for the good of the team,” Eelee sighed, knowing it would be very difficult to fight the perception the team had of him. “I didn’t see the hill.” What was ever the point of making a decision for himself if, when it went wrong, he would be maligned as selfish, and if it went right, he would never be complimented for it? “Let’s follow the horizon,” Eelee decided, keen the move the conversation onward. In the white of the snow, dusk-stained and bordering on the invisible, the horizon was increasingly harder to follow. The curled moon was little use to see by. It turned the land grey. Clouds would soon make everything look dark. “We’re too slow. Once midnight hits us, we won’t be able to see anything in front of us.” Rob halted, bringing Eelee to a stop also. He paused to reclaim his breath. “It’s not like I can use my fire, either. My hands are too numb to light.” “We can’t stop now, Robert. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!” Eelee said, his fingers numbly grasping the insides of his pocket. Rob breathed a cloud of frustration at his stubbornness, and for a moment Eelee thought he’d retaliate. Instead, he narrowed his eyesight to… something. Eelee leaned closer to Rob, trying to pinpoint what he was looking at exactly. He soon realized a tiny glint of light sporadically flashing in the distance. “Help. Robert, can you see it?” Eelee realized the question was futile, for Rob had noticed the glint first. “This is why you don’t give up.” Leaving Rob to scramble after him, Eelee raced across the powdery snow, kicking some away out of glee. They weren’t going to die here, whatever Jamie and Yoshi were keen to believe. As they drew closer to the glinting light, Eelee gave himself a mental slap of admonishment. He should’ve realized what it was. It was a rectangular building of solid metal, built directly into a snow mound. The vault’s door was caked with snow and permafrost, rust forming on the edges of the frame. “What is this place?” Rob sounded confused as he drew up next to Eelee, his feet gliding lightly over the snow due to his smaller stature. “Do you know about this place?” “Robert, try not to be more of an idiot than you can help,” Eelee snapped, before feeling a sudden surge of guilt. “Sorry,” he muttered - he was trying to fight the opinion that he thought he was better than everyone else, and impulsive moments of trying to be humorous like that did not help. “This is the global Seed Vault,” Eelee explained in a lighter tone a few seconds later, “as you could probably infer by the name of the island, Seed Vault Isle. We’ll be able to communicate to the outside world from here.” Dusting snow out of his tidy brown hair, Eelee rested his hand on the door handle. Pain shot up through his arm almost instantly. “AGGHH, YOU SON OF A-” Eelee gripped his wrist in anguish before censoring himself. His hand left an imprint on the door latch, bits of dead skin sticking to the handle. “If you know what’s good for you, DON’T touch that handle.” “Right.” Rob gave Eelee a quick glance through his visor, before planting his hands squarely on the same handle Eelee touched. In a second, the door was open, leaving Eelee gaping at Rob’s nonchalance - the handle had been ice-cold. “Fire powers,” Rob explained, hoisting the door open further. “Not as destructive as you think. I might not be able to create unbounded flame, but the natural heat of my powers works just as well.” “This place is deserted,” Eelee remarked to Rob as the two of them stepped beyond the door, hearing it slam with a thud behind them. It was not much warmer inside the door than outside, although it was a relief to be out of the battering wind and blowing snow. They had walked into a semicircular concrete tunnel, with artificial lights dripping white splashes onto them. “I like quiet. And silent. Usually it means dead.” The inner walls of the vault hummed, like a runned-down refrigerator ready to short-circuit. There was no sign of human - or any - life, Eelee noticed, no footprints, no maintenance, nothing. As the heroes walked down further into the vault, the tunnel started to get claustrophobic, until they were met with a smaller, friendlier-looking metal door. On the front was an “authorized personnel only” sign. “Well, that’s ironic. Shouldn’t this sign be on the front door instead? It a little too late to change your mind after coming this far.” Rob grabbed the handle of the door, casting an amused look at Eelee’s disgruntled expression - he hadn’t forgotten the front door - before adding, “I think we’re authorized enough. Heroes of the world sounds like a good resume.” “Heroes of The Mushroom Kingdom, Robert,” Eelee automatically corrected; that was their official title, and what they were known to the world as. Rob groaned at Eelee’s correction, before he opened the door, yielding another cavernous semicircular passage, nearly identical to the one they entered into. Eelee took the lead, unsheathing his sword for good measure. It was never a bad thing to be prepared. “What are all these hallways for?” Rob complained, following behind Eelee, before tapping his back uncomfortably. “I miss the feeling of my crossbow.” Rob’s preferred weapon, his crossbow, had been destroyed when Jon Dory went down. “We’ll get you another.” Eelee was glad for the conversation, the metronomic sound of their feet hitting the concrete floor was getting grating. “It’s not like there aren’t plenty of crossbows in the world.” “Yes.” Rob declared emotionlessly, “if only you took that advice, instead of fretting over losing Goldblade like it meant everything to you.” “That’s different,” Eelee snapped, feeling his ears grow hot as Rob brought up the familial sword he had shattered just a month ago. Inherited from his father, Goldblade was a sword that Eelee was proud to have held, an amethyst fixed squarely into the dark blue hilt, the golden blade flashing across the sky as it was an extension of his arm. Before Eelee’s father had had Goldblade, it was in Eelee’s grandfather’s possession, and prior to that, Eelee’s great-grandfather’s. It had been in his family for generations, and so when Eelee snapped it battling Purplous, one of the various villains they had to defeat in their three-year tenure in the Mushroom Kingdom, it had been crushing. “Goldblade was my family’s.” “You still have the amethyst, don’t you?” Rob questioned, causing Eelee to nod as they continued to explore the Seed Vault. The hallways continued to be empty, with only their voices echoing back to them as the signs of life. There was nothing that indicated they would be able to communicate to the outside world. It was a little bit of an unsettling feeling, knowing that they were under so many tons of rock and snow in the Seed Vault. Eelee reached into left pocket - he carried most of his items in his black backpack that he left at the fire with the others, and his sword on his belt, but the amethyst that was once on Goldblade’s hilt was different. It was very special to him, and he couldn’t imagine letting go of it. Flashing it briefly at Rob, he pocketed it once again. They were going through countless doors, countless semicircular, dull gray hallways, and they were seeing nothing that could help them. Finally, there was a change in the monotony when Eelee hoisted open yet another metal door. This time, rather than seeing another boring semicircular tunnel leading deep into the mountain, they came out into a cramped room, with aisles upon aisles of shelves reaching back and out of sight. The shelves were loaded with a myriad of tupperware boxes, all labelled and sorted. “What is all this?” Pulling down one of the boxes, Eelee mentally facepalmed. Of course they’re seeds, you moron, what else would they be? The one Eelee was looking at was dark black, and had the Mushroom Kingdom flag on it, before a quick scribbled note detailing what it was: “Propeller Mushroom Seeds.” “Actually... “ As if reading Eelee’s mind, Rob grabbed a blue, labelless box from the top compartment, sliding it off the shelf effortlessly. “I don’t think these are seeds.” Opening the plastic covering, Rob peered inside the box, his eyes widening instantly. “Jackpot. Unfortunately, we might not die after all. Depressing.” Eelee took a half-step over to Rob’s side, taking a look inside the box. The box was packed full to the brim with items wrapped in heavy plastic, and vacuum-sealed in little clear containers. Taking one of the little containers out, Eelee examined it in the artificial light, managing to catch a glance of the contents inside. It was food. “Wow. This is enough food to last us a week.” Eelee tossed the container back inside the box haphazardly. The sound of a gun cocking resonated behind them. “Don’t move or I’ll shoot.”